If you are planning a large event or outdoor wedding at your home this summer, fall, or next spring, you’ll want to have your landscape looking healthy and inviting. Hosting a high-style event at your home is possible and fun when your outdoor space accommodates opportunities for memorable moments.
The landscape designers at Outdoor Craftsmen have helped a lot of clients prepare their properties for weddings and other large events. Here’s what we’ve learned:
- Weather: calm and cool wins the day. Weather is always a concern with outdoor events, so go ahead and rent the tent or even better – have us build you that outdoor pavilion, shade pergola, or covered deck you’ve been wanting anyway! So many other decisions fall smoothly into place when you remove heat or rain or wind from the mix.
- Flow: walk your property as though you are a guest who has never been there before. Do you follow a natural pathway to a central area, or did you find yourself needing to take a shortcut through a flower bed or around outdoor furniture to get there? Our own outdoor environments are so familiar to us and we navigate them daily without needing to think about where we’re going. What seems intuitive to us may not be so for others. Clearly define your pathways during the event with lighting, flowering plants (including in gorgeous containers), and furniture placement. We’ve also seen some clever directional signage make for the occasion that helps avoid confusion and makes being a guest a bit easier.
- Fire and Water: water creates an unmistakable ambiance at any gathering. Pools are fun and festive; ponds, water fountains, and waterfalls create an inner excitement that puts everyone in a happy frame of mind. Fire features of any kind are people attractors. Who doesn’t love a roaring fire while enjoying a party? Having a fire feature can also provide an intentional area for cooking up outdoor pizzas, s’mores, and other luscious treats. When you include either or both fire and water, you are facilitating great conversation and places to connect.
- Outdoor Kitchen: an impressive outdoor space will fall short if you don’t have some type of outdoor kitchen. You want to be with your guests while the party is taking place, not inside (where others feel they should be to offer help). When you entertain outdoors with refrigerator, cooking and bar area within easy reach, both you and your guests will feel more at ease and the event will feel more relaxed.
- Details, details: a landscape that dazzles and allows you to host memorable affairs call for a landscape company that is accustomed to large-scale projects that are incredibly detail oriented. It’s important to work with a landscape contractor who is experienced and in tune with how people use a space – whether that’s two people or two hundred. You’ll avoid mistakes and your backyard events will come together in a way that brings joy to everyone who gathers there.